Giants-Diamondbacks Series Recap: Here Comes the Sun?

Chase Field has been a cornucopia of agonizing defeats for the San Francisco Giants in recent years. Thankfully, the Arizona Diamondbacks' home turf changed its name from Bank One Ballpark because the losses would've been doubly excruciating had they been suffered in the BOB—probably the dumbest nickname I've ever heard for a baseball stadium.

Since the first pitch of the 2007 season up until the first of these latest three games, the boys had played in Arizona 18 times and left the diamond in victory only five times.

As horrible as losing 13 games in 18 tries sounds, the story beneath the surface is even worse. Those losses featured, almost as a rule, some combination of shutouts, late-inning/walk-off home runs by unlikely Snakes, crippling knocks by weak-hitting pitchers, late SF rallies that fell a hair short, and/or one-run defeats.

In 2008, the Giants were swept in a four-game series.  In 2007, the fellas lost five straight games in the desert...that were decided by a single run.

So, depending on which perspective you take, Brian Wilson's first blown save of 2009 and the subsequent loss made perfect sense.  Therefore, they weren't such a big deal.

Or it was as devastating an L as can be found in April.

I fall somewhere in the middle, a little closer to 'no big deal.'

Let's not forget—San Francisco has still won five of six (now six of seven) and finished the abbreviated road trip with two wins in three chances at a freakishly hostile arena.  Two Ws might not sound so great, but the Orange and Black was zero for 2009 away from Pac Bell until taking those first two in Arizona.

No surprise to anyone by the Bay, it was Tim Lincecum who got the ball rolling in the right direction on Friday night. The Freak had no problem locking down the Giants first roadie win in seven tries by striking out 12 Diamondbacks en route to a 5-1 victory in the series' opener.

The offense also showed some enthusiasm in foreign digs.

Bengie Molina continued to lead the way (3 for 5 with a homer and 3 RBI) and the rest of the splinters actually strung together some nice two-out knocks with men in scoring position.  Two-out redeemers will always cure what ails any offense.

In addition, Freddie Lewis did a nice job setting the table (2 for 5 from lead-off) and Pablo Sandoval's bat got warmer (2 for 4 hitting behind Big Money).

In the second game, the journey wasn't quite as pretty, but the final result smelled just as sweet.

Randy Johnson had, ahem, a hard time mustering an encore performance to his one-hitter against the same Snakes in his previous start. The Big Unit's control was a mere rumor in his first start as the Opposition in his old park. 

I would refuse to believe anyone could unintentionally walk seven free-swinging D-Backs while recording only 10 outs had I not watched Randy's scattershot performance. He threw 81 pitches and 39 were outside the strike zone. 

That's crazy for a guy who's still pitching at the age of 45—to be in the game so long and still be capable of such randomness is a testament to the extreme difficulty of baseball. And, yet, the Giants pulled through.

Justin Miller, Jonathan Sanchez, Bobby Howry, Jeremy Affeldt, and Brian Wilson patched together the rest of the frames after Johnson gave San Francisco all he could give them (while keeping them in the contest).  Meanwhile, Randy Winn and the rising Edgar Renteria helped cobble together enough O to make a loser of Max Scherzer.

Then came Sunday.  The preseason plan almost worked to perfection.

Matt Cain turned in another virtuoso performance—7 innings, 4 hits, 1 earned run, 4 walks, and 5 strikeouts.  Howry and Affeldt took care of the eighth inning without incident.  On offense, Little Money led the way (4 for 4 with a three-run homer) while Molina, Aaron Rowand, and Emanuel Burriss each chipped in two hits apiece.

To top it all off, the Gents handed a three-run cushion over to their shiny All-Star closer.

And it all went up in a brilliant ball of flames.  Hey, at least Wilson didn't draw the misery out—the cushion only lasted four batters.  Even Justin Upton's tater took about a nanosecond to clear the fence.

Thank Heaven for small miracles.

Don't get me wrong—that one stung and even Monday night's sweet, SWEET victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers in SF doesn't take all the edge off.

But I'm not gonna focus on the blown chance at a win, the end of a five-game winning streak, the three-game sweep that flew out the window, a chance to move above .500 that went with it, and another crushing no-decision for the Kid in Chase Field, his own personal torture chamber—Cain's hurled 42 innings over 7 starts in Chase field with a 3.61 ERA, a 1.25 WHIP, and he's won twice.

Nope, I'm gonna focus on the positives because it's too easy to let a bad finish spoil what was actually a very promising mini-trip.

First and most obvious, it marked SF's first road wins of '09.  Huge.

Second, the pitching remained outstanding.  Although Johnson clearly struggled with his command and Wilson got torched (incidentally, also because he couldn't harness his fastball), the Freak and the Kid showed why Giant faithful have been so taken with the young flamethrowers.

The dynamic duo atop the rotation combined to toss 15 innings while allowing two earnies, 14 baserunners, and whiffing 17 flailers.

Out in the bullpen, the story was much the same with Affeldt and Howry delivering on the contractual confidence.

Third, the offense put up 14 runs in three games and did so evenly.  Two five-run outputs and a four-run effort in a loss shouldn't get you excited if you're a fan of Major League Baseball.  Unless you happen to root for the Giants.

Fourth, several intriguing names helped drive the offensive "outburst."

Pablo Sandoval went 6 for 12 with 2 runs scored, 3 RBI, a double, and his first dong of the year.  Even better, he forced a free pass and didn't fan a single time.  Emanuel Burriss went 3 for 12 (trust me, that's a big step for him) while playing spectacular defense at a position he's still learning and flashing his speed on the bases.

Big Money Molina remains a revelation with the bat, Randy Winn finally snapped out of the doldrums with an enormous dinger in the second game as well as two other extra base hits, and Renteria showed why he's an ideal number two hitter (on the current roster)—he managed to be productive by moving runners along, working the count, scoring three runs, and driving in three despite only registering two hits for the trio of games.

Yes, the blown save was excruciating—I was on a treadmill when it happened and almost added physical insult to psychological injury by face-planting in the middle of the gym.  But it was one of 162 games and, even better, it happened in April.

There will be other and probably worse losses, but that's only the tip of the rosier big picture.

Heading into 2009, we had a pretty good idea the pitching would be phenomenal.  The rotation and retooled 'pen were always going to be the strength of this club.  In fact, the staff figured to be so strong, some thought it capable of contending even with San Francisco's notoriously anemic stable of bats.

Even the most pessimistic amongst MLB adherents acknowledged that, if the Giants could Frankenstein together even a decent offense, the boys from the City could ambush many in baseball.

Certainly the National League West.

Well, the trap may be about to be sprung if the Diamondback series is a harbinger of future performance.  If Little Money Sandoval can join Big Money Molina and Randy Winn as reliable producers while Renteria, Lewis, and Rowand take turns with the hot stick, then our wildest Giant dreams might just come true.

It's still too early to tell for sure, but the rays of contention may have just broken through the gray clouds, gathered by seven losses in nine games to open the season.

And in Arizona of all places...